Finished the second pick of peppers, all skinned and boxed and frozen.Garden is producing a lot now, it was 44 yesterday at 2pm, and everywhere smells of hot figtrees - lovely ! New dog, Reeta, settling in. Constant fresh lettuce, buy six tiny ones at a time, plant along the wall so shaded. No mozzies at night and few flies daytimes.

Tragedy, dog took Necky, only Emma laying now. Small toms at last ripening, taste like peaches. Onions crated outside. Picking the large every day to freeze. Plenty of cucumber, toms and cue for Glorys lunch. Cuts from last weeks fall healing well, still lame on left foot.

Catch up report. Usual floods in Albufeira, the council must be morons.The weather has been normal, no frost so garden is very good this year, everything is early. One potato plant gave 12 goodsize potato, a record ! Bought new chicks, 2 brown. 2 black and Neckys eggs hatched out at the neighbours so have 2 more. They are laying like mad and no-one is sitting yet. Glory has hurt her tendon so no riding, my broken foot has healed, my arm still hurts. New dog from the Camera kennel, Reeta. Young, looks like a blonde collie, very energetic and should have called her kangaroo, never seen a dog leap so much. Will be drying potato, onion next month, tomato are 5 foot high and full, cues eating now, lots of tiny melon and aubergine. Alls well on the farm.

August now, best crop of onions ever, packed in shed. Tomato were rubbish. so many bugs. This year is cucumber year, next best is melons then aubergines that make tasty egyptian fried slices. Miracle hens still laying, all the neighbours have stopped. I am so pleased with them they now have a new pond under the pomegranit tree, to sit in on the hot afternoons. Drip fed by the leaky tap - - Have air conditioner, found it on Bangladesh article, they have no electric so make this cardboard and bottle thing, works lovely. Glory spends the afternoons in as its been over 40 outside. Alls well on the farm, well, all except me !

September 2017. A very different year, severe drought, hundreds of fires and higher temperatures than previous years. Freezer is full of this years harvest. Had to make tomato concentrate as smaller freezer. Ice cream sorbets were very good, grape, plum, goiaba, date and fig, all with banana. This week put in tomato, lettuce and cabbage and potato, which should be delicious for Xmas ! Hens still laying. Havent seen a blade of grass for ages - - Almonds in shell are one euro a kilo ( nut milk) Alls well on the farm.

November. Still no rain. Up country the tanker trucks are running to the villages to fill the cisternas. They are reporting the dryest year ever. Temperature down to 14 night but still hot daytimes, usually over 25. Most of the fires are out, there are hundreds of people without homes,livestock, just the clothes they had on when evacuated in a rush as the fire ran swiftly over the hills.The councils are building as fast as possible, Portuguese build houses very quickly. Next week more cabbage to go in, and fava, to wait for the rain - - hay has doubled in price. Less bugs , the constant heat must have killed them off.

Jan 18th, rain has gone and I sat out in the sunshine at my table doing herbs and reading my book. Mornings down to 8, by lunchtime it was 22, teeshirt weather when the winds not blowing. Garden is so green with fava and peas, tomato are going pink in the greenhouse - mmm - - not exactly, its four posts, the plastic from a large sofa for the walls, and the green bike cover for a roof. Lettuce in pots thriving. Still eating new potato. Make a litre of tangerine juice most days, cold insurance ! Everywhere is green, the hens are happy and have started laying again.

March - bad weather everywhere. Here, the farmers 20 mt wall blew down on my muckheap so had to clear that between showers.No snow or frost, just rows of bent over fava and roofless greenhouse. Apart from a few hiccups all is well, motobike staying in the shed because of the wind. Many broken trees, grumpy hens and fidgety horse. Ate lettuce, tomato and onion salad with my hardboiled eggwhites- the yolks go to the dogs dinners. Roll on summer - - pleeeeese

Still showery, this has been the month that has broken the records. Picking fava most days,(sinking in the mud) cabbage and lettuce too. Plenty of herbs and teas flourishing and the rest of the garden is planted. Tomato seed in this week, few new plants one foot high. Glorys toe shoe seems to help, still hoping she will get back to normal. Sat outside today to read, still a bit windy. Temp today was 21.

Looking back I can clearly see the climate change. This year tourists are going home as pale as they came. The wind is constant. my veg is protected in half water jugs. The sun. well. its not here and according to my twice yearly tests I have a vit d deficiency. With all the rain my garden is bursting at the seams, today pulled 200 onion out to dry - - huh - - hopefully ! They, the weather gods, say summer is coming next week - - - ummmm.

Had a few days of summer, now my pulled onions are under a tarp which was difficult. Happy no one could see me diving about like a loonie with iron pipes trying to peg it down in a tornado ! ! Showers and grey sky, back in jeans and jumper. 7 chicks are growing fast, when the last bag of chemical food is finished they will go out into the population. I buy ten k of shop food for chicks, when I didnt most died of some disease. After, they are on pure food, that I grow here. Today have nothing much to do in this wind, so its Lily Rush, Hutch and Dr House until 3pm. I have cut, dried, powdered and made bottles of sage, oregano, mint, and Bella Louisa leaves for ice cold tea for stomach pain. This works in 2 minutes and its far better than drugs ! The sage is a teaspoon daily to stop memory loss, put in food its unnoticable.

This year has had record temperatures, today at 15.00 it was 39 and a breeze. A few thunderstorms but hardly any rain. Garden is giving me strawberries most days, runnerbeans are just starting, constant crops all year so the freezers are full. Dried herbs are filling up the big shelves next door. Usual fires in summer but not so many as they have made a new law, if you dont clean your ground you get fined ! Last week I tripped and broke 2 ribs, luckily the lower left so its not so painful - just dont sneeze - Have a new roof on the henhouse and seven baby chicks this year growing well. The wood shed is half full, picking branches up most days ready to saw. Dogs fine, Reeta and Oggie, 3 cats are still here as they get shut in the stable with Glory every night.

December, about ten at night and a few rainy days so the garden is is good. Fava, peas and potato in, still picking peppers, tiny tomato, lettuce and the best year ever for parsley. Now I de-leaf, whiz in the machine and freeze in small boxes, much handier than freezing whole leaves. Quite a few small coffee jars of powdered sage from summers drying. Tangerine time now, have 2 drawers of the freezer full of half pint blocks for summer. Another 2 drawers full of tomato concentrate and one drawer of grilled skinned peppers, all frozen in blocks then bagged ( Flora tubs ) 15 chickens now, the babies (4) have started laying, the 3 cockerels are getting heavy - as soon as they start fighting they will be gone. Dogs, cats and Glory all well and a bit overweight ! Grass is growing, the land is green again decorated with leafless ghostly fig trees. The weather changes every year, I do prefer less rain (muddy horse.)

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